Hepatitis C virus infection status and risk behaviors of drug users in Anhui, 2010–2018

ObjectiveTo understand the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection status and risk behavior characteristics of drug users in Anhui province, and provide evidence for the establishment of measures to prevent HCV infection in drug users.

MethodsQuestionnaire survey and serological test were conducted for drug users in Anhui during 2010–2018, trend test was used to analyze the positive rate of HCV antibody and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to identify the risk factors for HCV infection.

ResultsA total of 18 925 drug users were investigated in Anhui from 2010 to 2018. The aanual positive rate of HCV antibody in drug users were 35.2%, 34.9%, 39.1%, 30.4%, 22.5%, 20.1%, 20.5%, 18.6% and 19.1% respectively (trend χ²＝458.635, P＜0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that living in community (aOR＝1.310, 95%CI: 1.074−1.597), methadone treatment (aOR＝3.182, 95%CI: 1.434−7.062), 20− years old (aOR＝2.246, 95% CI: 1.134−4.450), 30− years old (aOR＝5.283, 95%CI: 2.669−10.458), 40− years old (aOR＝7.158, 95%CI: 3.565−14.375) and 50− years old (aOR＝3.125, 95%CI: 1.205-8.102), married (aOR＝1.708, 95%CI: 1.296−2.252), divorced or widowed (aOR＝1.818, 95%CI: 1.354−2.442), history of injecting drug use (aOR＝5.370, 95%CI: 4.239−6.804), seldom condom use in commercial sex in the past year (aOR＝1.254, 95%CI: 1.037−1.517) and never using condom (aOR＝1.282, 95%CI: 1.021−1.610) were high risk factors for HCV infection in drug users.

ConclusionThe infection rate of HCV in the drug users in Anhui was high, but showed a downward trend. Therefore, effective measures should be taken to reduce the risk of HCV infection in drug users.